Football leftovers ... Week 10

— If I was a betting man, I would venture to say that Paducah Tilghman will retain Randy Wyatt as its football coach after a 2-8 season that included a forfeit loss to Webster County for the use of an ineligible player and no postseason play for the first time since 1984.

Wyatt's supporters note his local ties and the need to give his coaching style more than a single year to make his mark on the program. Fair enough.

Others would question why a team that made the state semifinals and returned double-digit starters went belly-up this fall, going 3-7 on the field and losing two district games (on the field) to Union County and Muhlenberg South, neither of which is likely will post a winning record this season — Union is 5-5, including subsequent losses to Caldwell County and Crittenden County, and Muhlenberg South is 5-4 with back-to-back games against a Butler County team that is 8-1. Their regular-season finale previews their playoff game the next week.

— Notice how quiet the local schedule is for the final two weeks? No high-profile district games with playoff implications are on the schedule, as was the custom in years past.

For that, you can thank the Kentucky High School Athletic Association and its insistence on using a scheduling grid that mandates district games be played in certain weeks.

"I don't like it at all," Crittenden County coach Al Starnes said. "In the past, you always told your players about having to be ready to play your best in the last few weeks of the season, when we played our district games. Now it's Week 3 and Week 5 and it's all spread out. Then at this time of the year, you have a little (lull) and then you have to get back up for the playoffs."

The scheduling grid, which generally mandates district games on alternating weeks throughout the season, was an idea copied from Tennessee, which generally has much bigger districts (7-8 teams apiece, compared to 4-6 in Kentucky's watered-down six-class format) and teams sometimes have to squeeze to fit in all of their district games in a 10-game schedule.

The KHSAA has kept the format intact for the next two-year cycle, as well. The idea was that teams would have more flexibility in scheduling, but the opposite effect seems to be more true. Because of that, Paducah Tilghman and Mayfield will play their rivalry game in Week 2 in 2009 and 2010, much earlier than it's ever been staged, because both teams didn't have the same non-district weeks open later in the year.

— The race for second place in Class 4A's District 1 between Lone Oak and Hopkins Central still isn't settled, but it will take a series of dominoes to fall for the Storm to overtake Lone Oak's bid for second and a home first-round playoff game. As best as we can tell, this is what has to happen:

First of all, Hopkins Central has to beat Hancock County. Then the Storm hopes that Trigg County beats Fulton Countyand Ballard Memorial clips Muhlenberg North. Then it also needs a series of upsets (Webster County over Todd Central, Ohio County over Madisonville, Reidland over Fulton City and Heath over Lone Oak) to come out ahead in the three-team tiebreaker.

Neither team will have a gimme first-round game by any stretch — the No. 2 seed hosts Warren East, which lost to Lone Oak in the semifinals last year and has a University of Louisville commitment in running back-linebacker Shenard Holton. The Raiders were decimated by injuries in the early part of the season, but seems to have gotten healthier and impressed Lone Oak's coaching staff in last week's 34-16 loss to crosstown rival Bowling Green, which is ranked second in Class 5A.

The third-place team will have to travel to Franklin-Simpson, a speed-laden team led by quarterback Courtney Dalcourt, who is being recruited by a host of BCS-league schools as a defensive back/athlete.

Calloway County is already locked in for the district title and the No. 1 seed and will host Russell County. Muhlenberg North, which beat Webster County for its first win last week, goes to District 2 champ Allen County.

— Given the travel distance involved for some of the first-round playoff games, it seemed likely that one or two games might be played on Saturday. At this point, however, only the Fulton City at Louisville Holy Cross game is a possibility for Saturday afternoon.

Fulton City athletic director Angie Nanney said that her school would prefer to play on Saturday but has yet to receive an answer from Holy Cross.

The rest of the three Class A games — Ballard Memorial at Caverna, Bethlehem at Mayfield and Kentucky Country Day at Crittenden County — seem likely to be played on Friday. Crittenden coach Al Starnes said he prefers to play on Friday night, but hasn't yet discussed the issue with Kentucky Country Day's administration.

Calloway County coach Josh McKeel, whose team hosts Russell County, said plans are to play on Friday night. Russell County, which finished fourth in District 2, is about 30 miles west of Somerset and borders the Eastern Time Zone. Also known as the Lakers, Russell County lost to district champion Allen County 20-13 a couple of weeks ago and will have to travel 220 miles for their playoff opener.